Lift operations at Mt. Hood Meadows will be temporarily interrupted Monday through Thursday this week, as mountain crews work on fortifying the base area snowpack readying for Spring Break. The ski area had planned daily operations, but the nearly three inches of rain from mid-mountain down this weekend, prompted the change in game plan, according to resort spokesman Dave Tragethon.

“The snow harvesting, snow making and grooming we have been doing since November really fortified our snowpack, and we were confident it would have withstood the spring sunshine, even if we didn’t get snow," said Tragethon. "However, this weekend's soaking requires us to take some time to make reparations to our snowpack. We need to emphasize that we don’t need new snow to reopen as is the case with the other ski resorts in the Northwest that can’t operate. We just need time to harvest and haul the snow we have in reserve to patch and fortify our snowpack to present a quality skiing and snowboarding product.”

Tragethon points out that the upper mountain weathered the rain well, and still has good coverage and snow depth. In fact, the resort announced it will be building a special freestyle terrain park - the Cascade Spring Park - partnering with renown park builders Snowpark Technologies in time for spring break [see related blog post.]

Meadows intends to reopen the ski area by Friday, and operate daily through Spring Break and beyond if possible. The forecast may have some snow in it, but at least doesn’t have the drenching rain that caused this temporary interruption of daily operations. If temperatures allow the resort will resume its snow making efforts.
For the daily lift operational schedule, visit the conditions page at the resort web site SkiHood.com.